He was given a 12 month jail sentence suspended for two years with two years supervision and a four month night-time curfew.

On Friday, Judge Simon Hirst disqualified him from driving for two years and ordered him to pay £1,000 prosecution costs and £1,048 compensation.

The judge told Hardstaff “If this case had come before me in the summer of 2013 I would without any doubt have immediately locked you up. What saves you is that it is now the age that it is, you have stayed out of trouble and there have been no problems as far as this lady is concerned.”

John McNally, defending, produced a bundle of references in support of Hardstaff and told the court “He saw her. He responded to the sight of her with another man by pursuing her in his car.”

He said the incident happened almost three years ago and in the intervening period Hardstaff has matured.